Holiday Stress? Why, Whatever Do You Mean?

Just one more post about avoiding holiday stress.

It seems that with all the conveniences at our disposal (for example -- the disposall, which makes cleaning the kitchen ever so much easier than having to fish every last bit of carrot peel out of the sink strainer so I don't have to call a plumber in the middle of the night) life wouldn't be as frenetic or demanding as in Laura Ingalls Wilder's time.  For example, if I want a turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas I don't have to polish up the rifle and train a long-haired turkey retriever to find a turkey to shoot, shoot the turkey and then defeather it and butcher it and build a fire to cook it and in the meantime grow enough wheat to grind into flour so I can bake bread to stuff the turkey and while I'm at it fend off hungry varmints gathering at the door because they can smell the roasting turkey and would happily tear down our front door to get at it...

Where was I?

Ah.  The stress of the holiday season.

Every year I flounder through bucketsful of advice on how to make the holiday season easier, much of it redundant or embarrassingly obvious or darn near impossible, but some of it based on good sense.  I found some excellent suggestions at Blisstree, the best of which, in my opinion, I've harvested to repeat here.  The list is made up of 23 items. 

Why 23?  I don't know.  Maybe there's some special symbolism to the number 23 (23 dogmas in the doctrine of the Catholic Church?  23 or so Hebrew letters in the Torah?  Caesar was stabbed 23 times?) 

In any case I've picked my favorites, those that don't seem too obvious or great in theory but nearly impossible to execute:

• Lower expectations. Have a realistic view of what is really important. Your kids want your time. They are not going to remember the Martha Stewart decorations – unless you involve them in the making of the decorations.

Hey, I'm the Queen of Lowered Expectations, as well as the Duchess of NO, the Princess of We'll See, and the Countess of I'm Counting to Three Via Halves, Quarters, Eighths and Sixteenths.  This works for me.

• Ask yourself, “If I only had half the time, what would I do?” This will help you prioritize.

I need to ask myself this question every day.  It seems like such a no brainer but I seem to apply it best only when I'm under extreme pressure, like those days when the smoothie has just spilled on table and the floor and the dog is lapping up the smoothie and we have to leave for school five minutes ago; on such a day the dog gets thrown in her pen, smoothie removal is rescheduled, and retrieving the newspaper from the driveway has to wait for later.

• Shop online or from catalogs.

This seems to be a really good time to plug my web site, FeeFiFoto, for easy and meaningful holiday giving.  We can put your photos on almost anything (personalized calendars, photo mugs, tee shirts, personalized microfiber handbags, canvas totes, Christmas ornaments with your favorite photos, keepsake boxes -- you name it.)  Just about anything except for billboards (too big) and tattoos (eww -- too creepy).

• Read... stories to your children. This allows you to sit down, relax and connect.

I still do this sometimes with Cupcake.  She likes me to read Dr. Seuss to her and I try not to indicate how much I love it because then she might not let me do it any more.

• Remember how you felt on December 26 or January 2 last go ’round. What did you say you’d never do again? What did your kids enjoy most? How would you like to feel this year after the holidays? How can you achieve this?

This one seems so obvious but I guess enduring the holiday season is similar to going through labor, in that you seem to forget the worst parts.  Write a note and put it where you'll see it next fall -- if you hated doing it last year, don't even attempt it this year.

• One last de-stresser: the holidays will pass and you’ll survive. You always do.

Sigh.  Really?  You promise?

What are your holiday stress triggers?

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